Annigan goes to the farm

Forget a weekend at a swanky spa, the three days I spent with Sarah on her homestead were exactly the relaxation and inspiration I needed. I had the best time there!

Of course, I got to meet Sarah's darling husband, who is an absolute dear. And then there were all her critters. Since meeting Sarah I have been anxious to meet her boys - the pygora goats.
Here are Darwin, Spike, and Mr. Nibbles, ready to greet us and hoping for treats.
Nibbles is clearly the self-appointed star of the show, and is eager to make friends. He gave me a good tasting, including testing the rivets on my jeans and trying out the zipper on my sweatshirt. He is a huge ham and attention hog, and is a gregarious bundle of fleecy friendliness! All three goats are absolutely cute and charming, and I am now completely certain that I will one day fulfill my longstanding desire to have some fellows of my own.
I was also won over by the chickens. Her flock includes several breeds, all of whom are perfectly lovely ladies. I had a great time feeding them and watching them do their cute chicken thing. They are much friendlier than I ever thought chickens to be!
And her muscovy ducks are perfect examples of sweet duckiness! Here are the three grown-ups, Mopsy, Cottontail and Flopsy,
and these are the three babies. All are just the bees knees, and the most puppy-like birds you can imagine! They loyally follow their people around, wagging their tails and hoping for treats and affection.
Clearly, affection is something that is generously handed out on the homestead, as all of Sarah's animals are gentle, friendly, and absolutely sociable.

Truly, I have been re-inspired to pursue our dream of one day owning our own small farm; now that I've seen that it can be done, and in such a charming way.

On Saturday, we drove down to Canby, OR, to the annual Flock and Fiber festival. It was a fiber extraveganza! There were tons of fiber-bearing animals, including goats, sheep, alpacas, llamas and bunnies, all looking lovely in their finery. There were lots of people spinning, on wheels and hand spindles. And there was ample opportunity to buy all manners of fiber, from raw, unwashed fleece all the way to lovely hand-dyed and spun yarn. I bought several types of fiber to spin, including some vibrant merino-tencel, some yak fleece and a cotton/hemp blend in their natural colors, some basic wool, and a "mystery batt" of mixed ends. (I will photograph all in the near future.) Sarah gave me a refresher course in spinning, as well as some gorgeous fiber to practice on, and I am well on my way to spin-tasticness!

At the festival there was also a show of fiber creations. There were everything from basic scarves to this - a life-sized family made of felted wool. It was amazing, as well as a bit puzzling. (Yes, the woman is breastfeeding.) I don't think that project would have ever occurred to me. Anyway - it was quite the display. While the fiber-arts show was very nice, with a few impressive pieces, I was firmly convinced that Sarah needs to submit several of her creations - most especially her yarn! - next year, as she would definitely clean up the competition!

It was a truly fantastic weekend, and I enjoyed every moment. I am so grateful to my lovely hosts, and hope to be able to visit again!

You spin me right round

This weekend, when I wasn't blowing my nose, I worked on some yarn with my hand spindle. I've been trying to learn how to spin, and it seems like practicing from time to time is a good idea. This green yarn is what I'm working on right now. It's a little tight, and very thin. I know it'll puff up a bit when it's washed, but I'm not sure I like it so thin. It's the neurotic control freak in me that leads to work coming out too tightly wound, but it's also that lovely characteristic that prevents me from being pleased with my first attempts and their sorry results. Meh.
This pink yarn was my first attempt at spinning. I used some roving I had left over from a needle felting project, which is how I came to make hot pink yarn. It was fairly tight to begin with, and washing puffed it up, so maybe I'm on the right track. If I can just give up the idea of making yarn of a consistent thickness and be happy with thick and thin yarn, I'll be all set.

I'm going down to Oregon this weekend, to go to a Flock and Fiber festival with my friend Sarah. (Of Sarah's Homestead fame.) I'm thrilled that I'll finally get to see her homestead and meet all her critters! And we're sure to have a blast at the festival! Since it's my first one, I'm not sure what to expect. But I do believe I'll be coming home with more than a little fiber and/or yarn to keep me busy for a while.

In the knit of things

I finished my first pair of socks yesterday. Whee! They don't match exactly, but whatever. Live and learn, right? Now I'm working on a little cozy for my camera, so that it doesn't get scratched when I'm toting it around without its bulky case. Next I think I'll be working on another pair of socks, this time with fabulous yarn from Hello Yarn. I can only wish that I had this much drive and energy for doing my school work. I would have been done years ago!

Remember my dumbness

Yesterday, while at a flea market, I found a little book of autographs. It belonged to a Lucille Winifred Corson, and contains notes from her friends and commrades in high school. She was in the Everett, WA, class of 1930, I think.

In contrast to the half-witted nonsense scrawled in the high school yearbooks of the present (unless I am mistaken and things have improved dramatically since 1995), this little book is full of charming little poems. There are a few "roses are red..." lines, but most look to be either original, or passages that have fallen out of common use.

Here is one I particularly like:
"Isn't it strange that princes and kings
And clowns that caper in sawdust rings
And common folks like you and me
Are builders for Eternity?

To each is given a set of tools
A shapeless mass and a book of rules
And each must make ere life has flown
A stumbling block or a stepping stone."
- Annabelle Giloery February 18, 1926

Another of my favorite entries:
"Dear Lucille -
Just remember me is all I ask.
Your friend,
Della Eisenman
Remember my dumbness" May 18, 1928

I hope that if Lucille is still alive, she remembers fondly Della's dumbness.

On the bright side

This is me with my husband, back in June, at the annual Solstice celebration. H is the most wonderful husband, and my best friend. We've been together for 13 years now (married for 7), and each year seems to get better. Oh, we've had up years and down years, but as far as our relationship goes... through a combination of luck and devotion, we've continued to grow together through the years.

I found H at summer camp when I was 15 and he was 16. We've been together ever since. Really. In case you haven't heard this charming story before, we were long-distance for 6 years. We grew up on opposite sides of NY and then went to college on opposite sides of PA. Got married after he graduated from college, 1 semester before I did. While being a virtual child bride was all well and good, there really should be a law against letting 19 year olds register for housewares. Our marriage is great, we just hate our dishes with a virulent passion.

Anyway, he's a keeper, and it's a darn good thing. We're much too interdependent to ever try to navigate these waters alone.

Then again, maybe not

Being a graduate student for the past 6 years has left me with one defining and undesirable character trait - I am completely unsure of myself. I just cannot trust my own judgement on anything. This has come from years of conditioning to question everything, and that most things I say are just plain wrong. Nevermind that this is mostly subjective wrongness, as determined by my advisor, wrong is wrong. I have developed a loud and omnipresent voice in my mind that questions the veracity, factual basis, and certitude of everything between the moments of conceiving of, and voicing, a thought. As such, I am left with few opinions that I am certain of. This is probably a good thing - as being too hard headed about anything is probably a dangerous position to take. But I also don't trust myself enough to make many definitive statements or take decisive action. This is bothersome. Take this morning for example: I have already emailed back and forth with my friend Adrian a half-dozen times simply on template questions pertaining to this blog. She, incidently, is the same guru that I turn to with knitting questions that I should be able to answer for myself. She is a saint and hasn't refused an answer yet, but I certainly feel like an ass for having to ask for instructions for every little project I want to do. *sigh* Will I ever learn to trust my own judgement again? This, and other frustrations stemming from being an eternal student, will probably surface quite a bit here. I'm feeling particularly wobbly today.

A Reasonable Likeness

After a nightmarish struggle of herculean magnitude, I was able to produce that fancy little icon of myself. I think I'm supposed to notify you, for legal purposes, that I used the illustrator at Abi-Station. It wasn't so hard to make, just to deal with once I had. Anyhow, now you know, so go make yourself one!

Latest creation

This is a baby sweater I made for a college friend's new little one. Hopefully it will fit him, as I kind of winged it in enlarging a pattern for a newborn. It's got lots of love in it, which I figure will cover a world of other ills, right? Welcome to the world, little Ben. Be warm!

Genesis

This being my first blog post, it's mostly just a test. I thought I'd start this for several reasons. Primarily, I'm the only person left on earth without a blog, so y'know... Also, I figured it would be a good spot to stash all of those thoughts I don't have another place for. We'll see how this goes. I'm not good with journalling, so it will probably be spotty at best. Here we go...